Happy Spring! It’s my favorite season to plan weddings, full of new flowers to use, love in the air and inspiration everywhere. Read on for some tips from inspiring brides who are planning their special days during this fabulous time of year.
Happy Wedding Planning,
David Tutera
QUESTION: Hello David, Love the show, you have definitely inspired me in planning my own special day. My name is Jane from Upstate New York. Due to a tight budget, instead of a wedding we opted to have a small engagement party for 60 in June 2009. Since I can’t have a wedding right now, my goal is to still try to create an old romantic feel of Paris. I have listed a few things I have managed to pull together myself so far…
Flowers–I am using tall gold vases with light & dark pink flowers
Table cloths–light blue
Chairs–gold
Venue–beautiful little Inn in Saratoga
Do you have any suggestions for colors or items I should use to create the type of theme I am looking for? It would be a great help since I am really struggling to create this theme.
Best wishes,
Jane
By Jane80 on March 13, 2009 5:07 PM
DAVID TUTERA: Greetings Jane! Congratulations on your wedding! I love a French theme. Paris is after all, the city of love. My suggestion to you would be to incorporate some yellow tones into your current scheme. Also, utilize shades of blues, and not just one. Some other Parisian tips would be to use napkins made out of a toile fabric, fill baskets with baguettes, breads and French cheeses, and put grapes on the tables for a very French countryside feeling. Bon Apetite!
QUESTION: My mom has had to change her wedding date due to the original reception site going bankrupt. Since she has done that it seems that she has lost all motivation in planning her wedding. The new date is 5-2-2009 and she barely has anything done. On top of all of this she is a Christian and marrying a Muslim and wanted to have parts of both faiths in her wedding. Can you give her any advice on what she needs to do to get the ball rolling again. She has her dress, ceremony site, reception site, colors and bridal party chosen but nothing else. Please we need your help ASAP.
By bridetobedtr on March 15, 2009 8:14 PM
DAVID TUTERA: Do not fear! This is a challenge I have actually worked with before and my best suggestion is to have just one, non-denominational officiant do your service. Then, do special sections of the ceremony that draw from each side. Incorporate traditions from both to keep both sides of the family and not feel like one side takes precedence over the other.
QUESTION: Hello David, My name is Samantha and my fiancé is Dennie. We reside in Land O’ Lakes FL, where the weather is absolutely gorgeous in the fall and winter. Our wedding is planned for November 2009. I am in such a manic confusion planning this wedding. I have chosen a very bold color (red) scheme for my wedding. The theme is Caribbean romance, with tropical flowers and a steel band playing. I am having great difficulty with envisioning the decor for the reception. Since red is such a bold color I’m not sure how to incorporate it into the reception. My bridesmaid’s dresses are red and my bouquet is going to be red roses. Can you please give me some suggestions?
Thank you,
MsSFJones
March 15, 2009 5:48pm
DAVID TUTERA: I like your Caribbean direction! I think using red in abundance is fantastic. I would do red everything– linens, votives, candles, napkins, everything. In fear of it looking to ‘firey’ or more provocative than sophisticated, add some orange which will give a nod towards the Caribbean flair. Some great tropical flowers in red: Ginger, and Birds of Paradise.
QUESTION: I am getting married this September at the Sheraton Monarch Hotel in Springfield, MA. My husband to be and I do not have a lot of money and are on a limited budget. The majority of our budget went to the per plate cost of the reception as well as the photographer and Dj, so we do not have a lot left over for other decorations. The hotel is providing the linens (including chair covers)as well as small flower centerpieces, but I think we might need more. The colors we have chosen for our wedding are white and red, but we are not sure how much of each color to have. We are in a huge Grand Ballroom that seats 600 people, but we only have 125 guests…can you give me some tips on how to make it feel intimate and relaxed yet elegant? Also, when using white and red, how much of each is too much? I really want to make it look classy, but don’t have the money to do so. Please help!
Love,
Rosemary & Seth (big fans of yours!)
March 10, 2009 8:22pm
DAVID TUTERA: My first suggestion is that if you do equal parts red and white, it will look like Valentine’s Day (the wrong holiday for love–this is a holiday of your own!) Decorate with the majority red, and bring in just a little white to keep your proportions right. To make your event space seem more intimate and to keep your guests from swimming in it, bring trees in, have more tables with less guests, or use large branches in your décor.
QUESTION: David, My boyfriend and I are trying to plan a surprise wedding! Neither of us want a traditional wedding and Vegas has been done so many times! (I actually had a dream that we just decided to get married so we threw a BBQ and got married. I think it was after watching my big redneck wedding in all…haha!) We both decided we could tell one person about the wedding to have them stand up there with us. So I think we have a location and most of the details of the actual ceremony but we are still unsure of how to ensure everyone is there! We thought about telling everyone it was an engagement party and we weren’t sure when the wedding was going to be, so they must be there! PLEASE give us any help or suggestions you have to offer!
Thanks,
Rachelb24
March 9, 2009 10:35pm
DAVID TUTERA: I love surprise weddings, I think they’re a great idea, I really do! You’re doing the right thing by inviting them to a celebration that isn’t a declared wedding. I suggest that you have an area that the guests will move to in order to discover that it is actually your wedding. If they are showing up for one event they have in their head, physically moving them to another location where everything changes (music, lighting, décor, style) will help them make the mental transfer as well, and will make your wedding look like a deliberate surprise rather than an afterthought.
QUESTION: I am pretty sure that I have found the dress, but I can’t bring myself to make the final decision. I love the dress I have, but feel like if I keep trying other ones on, I’d probably find something else I like as well. I just want to make sure I look GEORGOUS on our wedding day, and not feel like I made the wrong choice. I have never been able to choose dresses. In high school, at all of the proms I attended, I would wear one dress to dinner, and another to the actual prom. When I go to weddings now, I usually don’t pick the dress until that day, or the night before. Help! The dress I think I have decided on is Allure style #8526…you can find it here: www.allurebridals.org/bridal.html
daziemarie8
March 2, 2009 9:42pm
DAVID TUTERA: Take the time to try on enough dresses until you feel like you’ve seen enough! If you’ve tried on enough to get a good feel for what’s out there, then when you step into the right one, you’ll feel it and know enough. You can’t second guess yourself–it has to be the right dress for the season, body type, style of your celebration, and if that all makes sense and you still look great in it, then you have the right dress!
QUESTION: ALOHA David! I’m a US Army Service member, stationed in Hawaii, and I want to plan a vow renewal ceremony for me and my husband to celebrate 10 years of marriage. He is also a U.S Army Service member. Can you help with some ideas?
anointed1
March 1, 2009 10:41pm
DAVID TUTERA: Congrats on your vow renewal! It would be nice to create your wedding around something special to you–maybe recreate your original wedding or honeymoon. Make your vow renewal connected to your love and not just an anniversary party. Ask your husband what he thinks too, he may surprise you with some ‘wedding wishes’ of his own!
QUESTION: Hi David, I was watching Joanna and Michael’s wedding on platinum weddings and you used rhinestone bracelets around the candles as a centerpiece. My question is where can I find something like or those exact bracelets?
barbie850
February 26, 2009 11:09am
DAVID TUTERA: Thank you for watching! I loved that wedding! For Joanna and Michael’s candle trim, we actually used a diamond trim (faux diamonds can be found in this same trim at the craft store in the ribbon aisle.) You can also purchase elastic band of diamonds (much like bracelets) from faux rhinestone specialty sites by searching online.
